Inside Mizzou's new eSports Gaming Lounge and its goal to increase student engagement
Fulfilling a desire to increase student engagement, the University of Missouri on Thursday formally opened its new, 2,200-square-foot gaming lounge inside Center Hall.
It has 19 gaming systems, all available to students.
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There are fields and courts for people to play together, but this is a new space for gamers, said Ethan Cobb, assistant director of sports competition.
"People who wanted to play eSports together, we didn't really have that," Cobb said referring to a dedicated space.
The gaming lounge had a soft open in October to work out the kinks, he said.
The MU Premier team, the equivalent of a varsity team, on Thursday night was to face the University of Kansas.
It's the only university he knows that has eSports at the Premier, club and open levels, Cobb said.
Seated on couches, MU Rec staffers Connor VanOveergerghe, of South Bend, Ind., and Audrey Boulware competed on Super Smash Bros. Boulware won.
"I think it's a really unique space that I don't think a lot of universities have," Boulware said.
In an adjacent studio, MU broadcast journalism juniors Alex Stenman, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Ethan Paladino, of Springfield, showed off their space.
"Through eSports, we're able to channel our studies into our passion," Stenman said.
"I pretty much fell in love with eSports," Paladino said.
While they have a fully equipped studio now, they started out their sophomore year broadcasting in their bedroom, they said.
They would be providing play-by-play for the MU-KU Border Clash Thursday night on Twitch, an online gaming platform.
Luke Twogood, a senior computer science major from Lee's Summit, plays Overwatch for the Premier team. The team trains and plays in the MSI Training Facility, another room in Center Hall.
"It's very cool," Twogood said of the lounge. "It's a cool, like, variety of games I can get there."
It's early in the season, Twogood said.
"We just started our season a week ago, but we are undefeated so far," he said.
The lounge is open to MU students from 4-10 p.m. on weekdays and noon to 6 p.m. on weekends. It's also open to the public on weekends and is available for private rentals for watch parties, events and camps.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: New MU eSports Gaming Lounge features gaming systems, broadcast studio
